One of the first creative tasks I undertook as part of Project Pinterest, The Blessingway Edition was the making of cupcake decorations from sugar paste in the form of butterflies (my chosen blessingway motif) and flowers. I own the Wilton Ultimate Decorating Set (which I love, by the way), so many of the tools I needed for this project I already had on hand. The rest of my supplies came mostly from Panduro. Below you’ll find a list of things I used to create my cupcake decorations, some pictures and a few simple tips/notes.

I started this project by quickly sketching out some ideas, so that I had a notion of how many butterflies and flowers I’d need altogether and in what sizes/colours.

When I was ready to make my decorations, I rolled out fondant (starting with the pale green coloured one, which was the lightest) using non-stick rolling-pin on my Wilton practice board. I wanted my fondant rather thin so that the elements appeared delicate, but not so thin that they would not hold up well.

I then cut the fondant using both regular cutters and also plunger cutters that left a nice texture/impression on the fondant butterflies. I always made sure to keep my unused fondant covered while working so that it didn’t dry out (it dries out fast!). Plastic wrap or ziplock bags work well for this.

Using a small spatula, I gently lifted each cut out element from the work surface and placed in a forming cup/tray or on a clean plate to dry. Some of the butterflies I placed in the Wilton wave former so that their wings curved upward. The small blossoms and daisies I placed on a foam pad before drying and used a ball tool to press a little indent into the middle (this curves the petals upward and creates a perfect little space in the center of the flower for placing a smaller flower, sprinkles or pearls).

I allowed the cut-outs to dry well overnight.

I brushed silver pearl dust over some of the fondant decorations with a dry paint brush. For others, I mixed a couple of drops of lemon juice with pearl dust before applying so that the glitter had a little more staying power and allowed me to highlight very specific areas of a fondant decoration (eg, tips of petals).

I finished off the flowers by adding pretty centers of pearls or sprinkles (affixed with edible glue) in colours that matched the fondant.

I used edible glue to stick some elements together (eg, small butterflies and flat blossom “discs”).

I left everything out to dry again overnight before placing carefully in an airtight container lined with baking paper.

They worked perfectly and looked so pretty on my cupcakes on the day. Effort well worth it! :D

Thanks so much! Yes the world of cake decorating is an amazing place! I could spend soooo much money in cake deco shops. I was actually relieved that I got my supplies from the local craft store, thereby limiting my choices somewhat… otherwise I might have gone loco ;) But it was also good to see how many different things I could create with 3 fondant colours and 2 types of sprinkles :)

Aw, Sophie, you’re too kind! I hardly feel a master, but I do love creating pretty things. This was my third attempt at making decorations with fondant, so I feel I have a long way to go… but I am having fun teaching myself and experimenting :D xx

3 things i’ve learnt from this post:
1. there’s such a thing as ‘kitchen glue’ :O just so so awesome
2. you can eat shiny things (edible pearls and silver dusting….how cool is that – you do realise once i get my hands on that dusting everything (yup even lasagne) is going to have silver dusting for some time… imagine that…hmm this salad looks boring…what about silver dusting!)
3. rolling pins have sizes!! (just when i thought they came in big or small)

Hi! So glad you found the post and that you found it informative! Thanks so much for the feedback :-) I sometimes wonder if its worth sharing tutorial style info when I’m a beginner and home cook myself, but I figure it probably makes me a little more sympathetic to the questions/queries/issues that other DIYers have. All the best to you x

Wow, this post is the very first thing I clicked upon seeing you stopped by my blog. Holy moly you’re talented! These are absolutely beautiful. I think we might be a bit late heading to my in-laws since I can tell I’m going to be absorbed in your site this morning. :)